Moved by #BlackChurchPBS documentary? Pitts Chapel UMC, the oldest continuously meeting African-American organization in Springfield, Missouri (founded in 1847) needs to raise $250,000 to make necessary repairs to 1911 building. To give to project, go to https://www.givelify.com/donate/pitts-chapel-united-methodist-church-springfield-mo-2j7wy5MzY2OTU=/donation/amount

For more on Pitts Chapel: https://twitter.com/OzarksWatcher/status/1278780147131396097?s=19

Rev. Russell Ewell of Pitts Chapel UMC is a national leader in topic of Disability Studies & African-American theology, shown here on panel with Dr. @CornelWest, Rabbi Julia Watts Belser, Dr. Aliou Niang, Dr. Kendrick Arthur Kemp, and Dr. Tanya Wiliams held at @UnionSeminary.

In 2020 the congregation celebrated its 173rd birthday. Here is an anniversary booklet from the 120th in 1967, part of the Katherine Lederer Ozarks African American History Collection at @LibrariesMSU Special Collections and Archives. https://digitalcollections.missouristate.edu/digital/collection/Lederer/id/89/

The anniversary album tells the story of the congregation's founding in 1847 as Wilson Creek Methodist Chapel. https://digitalcollections.missouristate.edu/digital/collection/Lederer/id/79

In 1901 Springfield's African American community gathered at Pitts to protest the lynchings in nearby Pierce City, Missouri. This event and story of horrific Springfield 1906 Easter lynchings is told in Harper's White Man's Heaven https://www.uapress.com/product/white-mans-heaven/

A report from Methodist District describes aftermath of 1906 lynchings: "At Springfield our church has been under a cloud of despondency, due to the recent riot and mob violence here which occurred here April 14" spurring "quite an exodus among some of our most faithful members."

This dispatch appeared in the Annual Report of the Sedalia District Conference, published in local paper. Noting the pastor's "efforts to encourage and console his people in these hours of depression," W.H. Smith, P.E. concluded "brighter prospects are in sight for Pitts Chapel."

In 1909 the neighborhood was flooded by Jordan Valley Creek. According to the National Register of Historic Places documents for nearby Benton Ave. AME, Pitts Chapel's wood frame structure may have been washed away. https://dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/01001109.pdf

Newspaper accounts from July 1909 record the destruction of an unidentified African American church and several houses that were "washed away" by the flooding from Springfield's Jordan Creek.

Built two years after the deluge, the current Pitts Chapel United Methodist Church building is a testament to the resilience of the congregation, whose first building was destroyed by arson in June of 1865.

Over the next century, Pitts Chapel was a center for civic engagement, partnering with other Springfield churches and the NAACP. In October 1945 the congregation protested a racist sign at a downtown tap room at a city council meeting.

In 1933 Pitts Chapel hosted a banquet for Lincoln School, which served Springfield's African American community until 1955.

Pitts Chapel was the church home of Alberta Ellis, the proprietor of a hotel listed in the 1954 Green Book. Alberta's Hotel welcomed such notables as Stevie Wonder, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Pitts Chapel choir developed an international reputation, performing in Vienna, Austria and at a mass sing at Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

In 1967 Pitts Chapel hosted a memorial service on the fourth anniversary of the murder of Medgar Evers, together with the Springfield NAACP.

In September of 1968, Mrs. R.L. Trout of Pitts Chapel spoke on "There Came a Woman" at a meeting held at Benton Avenue AME.

Another Route 66 business was within walking distance. Graham's Rib Station hosted Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, & Pearl Bailey. Look carefully and you can see the church behind the remaining Graham's tourist cabin. The Grahams belonged to Pitts Chapel.

A marker from the Springfield-Greene County African-American Heritage Trail tells the story of James and Zelma Graham, co-founders of the Rib Station, who also served on the boards of the United Way and the @CCOzarks.

A new Springfield-Greene County African-American Heritage Trail marker honoring Pitts Chapel United Methodist Church and its longtime neighbor Gibson Chapel Presbyterian Church was dedicated on March 8, 2020, right before the COVID-19 shutdown.

On November 1, 2020, Pitts Chapel celebrated its 173rd birthday in an online gathering with Campbell UMC. In 2047 the congregation will celebrate its bicentennial.

Founded in 1847, it is the oldest African American organization in Springfield, MO.

To support Pitts Chapel's Capital Campaign, please click here: https://giv.li/iluno3  https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2020/06/26/historic-african-american-church-springfield-need-repairs/3256541001/